Pokemon In The Real World: Book 1 Redux
by Ryl The Rogue
Summary: Allen is a normal day-to-day worker who was enjoying a day off, until something usual happened.
1. Chapter 1

Pokemon in the Real World: Book 1

Chapter 1: Arrival

The day was quiet, as it was to live in a small city. Living in an apartment was Allen, 22, who was just a day worker the the nearest fast food chain. The hours were long and shift were greasy, but the decent pay and overtime were worth putting up with "hangry" customers. Today happened to be his day off and he was drowning in boredom. The lack of a hobby and proper friends made days off more of a day to sleep off or rest aching legs from standing for hours at a time. His video games staved off the boredom long enough for night to arrive, but today was not cutting it. _Man, I don't know how much more of this cycle I can take. Is this the rest of my life?_

Allen lied in his bed, staring at the ceiling. His clock read "11:04am", many hours away from his time to sleep. The worst part was that tomorrow was also a day off, so he had to come up with _something_ to get that day over with as fast as possible so he can work again.

_PING! _Ping-ping.

A sound seemed emanate from very close by, a very familiar one. Allen recalled that sound from his early teenage years. Nearly forgotten, but hit him with a wave of nostalgia. He _knew _it from somewhere, but where? He sat up, but his aching back and legs begged him to stay in bed. Standing was an effort that was punished, but Allen did not care. Shuffling to the door of his room, he slowly opened it. The hallway was empty and his housemates were out working for the day, save for one red blur in the corner of his vision. On the floor was a small sphere, red one half and white on the other with a black band separating them. Suddenly, it dawned on him. _A Pokeball_.

One of his house mates was a fan of anime, so it must have been one of his models or collectables that found its way into the hall. Allen bent down to pick it, and it felt like it was real. The texture was smooth and glassy, not the coarse plastic that he expected from cheap models. He pressed the button on the sphere and it grew from the size of a golf ball to a baseball very quickly. _I don't think a plastic model would to THAT. _He tossed it on the ground and it bounced back up with the familiar _PING._ _What if this is real? What if...?_

Memories of an old franchise he loved came rushing back. It was still around, but he did not find it the same anymore. The newer generations had unusual designs, but he recalled that the old ones were not any better. Something told him to head outside and explore, an instinct that he has not felt since his hard gaming days as a teenager. Allen slept in his work clothes from the day before, so all he had to do was throw on a coat and head out.

The door of his apartment complex lead to a small, two lane street. _Now, what can I catch with this?! _No questions, no explanations needed, his instincts told him to catch something. It did not matter what generation is was from, just something cute and not take up much room. The calls of many different Pokemon were in the distance, along with others that had their own Pokeballs. As quickly as the new Pokemon appeared, new trainers would lob their Pokeballs. Allen did not want some bird or rat, it had to be unique. His legs wanted to stay home, but his excitement and adrenaline urged him forward. Something green was caught in the corner of his vision. A crescent shape with a three pointed leaf-like tail. _Now that looks unique_. Before Allen could fully see it, the shape darted into an alley. _That's it, that's the one._

His adrenaline caused Allen to ignore the aches in his legs, letting him run after the crescent shape while tightly gripping onto his Pokeball. Just as he caught another glimpse of it, Allen threw the ball as hard as he could. The force of his throw caused him to stumble and trip, but he saw a solid white light envelop the Pokemon instead of the red light he was familiar with. The impact with the ground knocked the wind out of him, but it did not stop him from scrambling to the Pokeball and watch it wobble back and forth.

One. Two. Three… _PING!_

_Whatever it is, I caught it!._

Allen made his way back to his apartment, holding the Pokeball very carefully. _I did it, my first Pokemon._ It was a short walk back to his place, just out the alley and down the street. However, that was the longest walk of his life. Each step was an eternity, every second felt like a minute, and his key would not fit into the door that he forgot he locked to the apartment. Allen's room was pretty messy with some fast food wrappers and dirty laundry laid about. _I can't let my first Pokemon can't see all this._ Very brief cleaning followed.

Sitting on his single bed, Allen set the Pokeball onto his bed sheets and pressed the button, which brought a flash of light what took shape. Allen starred and it starred back. "Sni…". It was clearly from the later generations, so he was not familiar at all with it. _It's green, so it's likely grass type. Very cute, but not really._ "Sni…". Not what he was expecting as his first Pokemon, but he only had one Pokeball. _Now for a name…._ _Greeny? Vert? Lettuce? _He observed the creature a little more and he recalled the three pointed leaf. _Yeah… Leaf…._

That would be her name.


	2. Chapter 2

On Allen's bed was a small, snake-like Pokemon. It's appearance was not really a design we could have chosen, but this was his now. "Sni- vy" it squealed as they bounced at him, snuggling into his chest in a big hug. _Oddly affectionate for just being captured._ A bit of research on his phone revealed that it was a Pokemon from a few generations after he fell off of the franchise, but he knew that catching up on the new generations and catching up on some type knowledge. Some hours of further research revealed more types and hundreds of new Pokemon.

_Well, shit. There's no way I could memorize all these new Pokemon and type matching in a single day._

Most of his day off was spent wrapping his head in the near alien franchise Allen knew as a child. A headache followed shortly after. Allen's new Snivy, Leaf, dug through most of his room, diving into laundry, cleaning out drawers, and studying objects they were not familiar with.

Allen did not remember falling asleep. He awoke at five o'clock, two hours before his shift. Pulling himself up, he saw that Leaf was reading a hand dictionary/thesaurus he never used and browsing his phone while munching on some two-day old fries. "Good morning?". Leaf's eyes trailed back to Allen's, which lead it back to the phone which they were tapping on briskly. "Good morning, Allen" the phone said in a female tone. It seemed that Leaf was using an app to have typed sentences spoken by a program. _Okay? That's pretty scary and impressive at the same time_. The realization that Pokemon were real and in this world had not completely sunk into his head. It could have been a REALLY LONG dream he was having, but that was doubtful at this point. _I'll need some coffee._ His bed was too comfy and his muscles ached from pushing himself too hard to chase his Snivy, leading to some useless flailing.

"What is wrong, Allen?" Leaf asked through the phone. "You seem to be physically limited". _No shit._ Allen replied "I just need a coffee and some food". He was not looking forward to working the day away as a burger flipper. _Maybe the arrival of Pokemon could have handed me some new opportunities. Maybe I could be more than that now._ Allen had made up his mind, he would hand in his two week notice before quitting to his manager and find a more fun way to make some money.

He did not have the experience to help new trainers become more skilled, nor the knowledge to educate other in type matching or the new abilities. _Looks like I might be in fast food for the foreseeable future._ His shift was a few hours off, so Allen decided to watch some video online to pass the time before he had to get ready.

He usually skipped the ads played before the videos, but one caught his attention.

"Tired of the same old job, looking for more with a sense of community and respect? Team Rocket may be the answer for you". A woman in a black shirt with a big red "R" on the chest was talking to the camera for an ad with a sense of confidence and cheeriness. "We're an organization that appropriates goods and Pokemon for a greater cause. We offer free housing and specialized training for new recruits. Apply now at the nearest Rocket Center near you". The ad ended with the announcer giving a cocky smirk and waving.

This sounded too good to be true. Leaf nudged Allen, giving him a quizzical expression, "Sni…?". _Doing some untitled work sounded much better than burger assembler. After today, I'll find a Rocket Center and apply._


End file.
